2004-12-30-Neo-Calvinists
 |
 Harrison
Weblog
|
|
Religion writer tells of
Neo-Calvinism, a
ba'al t'shuvah movement
among Protestants
jewishsightseeing.com, Dec. 30,
2004
|
2004-12-30-Neo-Calvinists |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
Before turning to other kinds of assignments, Abe Opincar used to sample religious services the way his late and much-missed colleague on the
San Diego Reader, Eleanor Widmer, used to sample restaurants. Every column, he'd tell a story about the fare served up at another of San Diego's endless variety of churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and religious gatherings. Occasionally, there were some awkward moments. Like any reviewer or critic, he preferred to come unannounced, so he could enjoy an unrehearsed presentation. Congregants—not knowing that Opincar was Jewish, or, for that matter, a journalist—would wonder why he'd hang back during communion. At one service, where well-meaning congregants were particularly insistent, he demurred with the fanciful explanation: "I'm allergic to wafers." Attending so many different services over many years imbued the Brooklyn-raised Opincar with an appreciation of the various trends cuttings across all religions. For example, during a seminar today (Thursday, Dec. 30) with members of a San Diego inter-religious working group of the American Jewish Committee, Opincar said there is Christianity a movement that can be likened to the ba'al t'shuvah movement in Judaism. Young adults, having been raised in "non-denominational" churches, look for more tradition and structure. Some are turning to what might be described as a neo-Calvinism, a strict form of Protestantism for anyone familiar with the 17th Century Puritans who established themselves in Massachusetts. Opincar said that an important principle of neo-Calvinism is predestination—the idea that some people have been chosen by God to be saved, and that others haven't. While some fundamentalist Christians consider Jews to be the "chosen people" whose fate is bound up with the coming of a messianic age, Opincar said the theology of some other fundamentalist Christians is far less absorbed with Jews or with the land of Israel. For most of these people, Israel and Judaism are matters lying outside their scope of interest. But among a minority of adherents in this neo-Calvinist movement there is a belief in "replacement theology"—the idea that Jews have been replaced by Christians as the "chosen people." This can be a reason for concern within the Jewish community because once Christians stop looking at Jews as having a special relationship with God, then Jews become in their view "simply the people who denied the divinity of Jesus." Opincar noted that within Christianity, there is also "dominion theology," the idea that a theocracy should be established within the United States, a government based on the teachings of Hebrew Scriptures—or the "Old Testament"" as these scriptures are known to Christians. While adulating the Old Testament, this movement has little interest in the "oral law" by which rabbis explained or interpreted these scriptures over centuries. Those interested in "dominion theology," he said, believe we should "stone adulterers (and) homosexuals." Opincar did not estimate either the size of the neo-Calvinist movement nor the number of adherents to "dominion theology," but did leave the impression that the numbers, while small, are growing. The American Jewish Committee seeks to reach out to people of other religions and ethnicities in the belief that dialoguing can lessen tensions and sometimes lead to the building of coalitions around common goals. — Donald H. Harrison |
